North Carolina speechisms

Ed Cone: Bless His Heart, or How to Speak Like a Native. The political blogger hits some high points of North Carolina dialect, though I will say that “hey” as a greeting is not isolated to North Carolina—I remember it widespread in Virginia (southeastern, Charlottesville and Northern) and it’s equally pervasive in Redmond, Washington. I do have to give him points for calling out other regionalisms, including “people” for family, “tea” meaning sweet iced tea, “might could” as previously discussed here, “like to,” and of course “bless his heart.” And my wife still makes fun of me when I tell her to “mash down on” a button on the remote, meaning to hold it longer than a quick press.